Marijuana use is on the rise in older adults

Act your age, not your THC level –

August 31, 2020 – The researchers said one of the reasons they embarked on the study was a concern that the effects of cannabis in older adults might be different from what younger people experience. Young adults ages 18 to 25 remain the biggest users of the drug in the U.S., with 38.7 percent reporting use in 2018, according to a government report.

“Our colleague from Canada was thinking about the use of cannabis in nursing homes, as that has gone up,” Jesdale said. “There is very little evidence base on how marijuana interacts with a lot of the medications used in that population.” There are concerns that marijuana use in older adults might increase the risk of drug interactions when combined with certain medications. A review published in January in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology noted, for example, that marijuana can interact with certain heart medications, putting users at risk.

There’s also an increased risk of confusion, dizziness, falls and other accidents, the report said.

The report didn’t touch on the respondents’ past marijuana use, so Jesdale couldn’t say whether the increase was due to new users or people coming back to a drug they’d used back in their college and high school days.